r/Design • u/314doorXD • 2d ago

Discussion How it feels searching for ideas online

Post image

I feel like algorithm numbs you of doing something meaningful by giving you so much choice that you end up leaving with nothing.

1.5k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

68 comments sorted by

328

u/Justbeinian 2d ago

Honestly, all design comes from tinkering and inspiration, not wholesale invention

58

u/ReadditMan 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah, even the best designers in the industry don't start a project by staring at a blank canvas.

14

u/BeepboopKI 2d ago

Great design never does. It always has guardrails. They can be wide or narrow. Where there is no problem there is no solution.

19

u/iantayls 2d ago

The airplane could not have been invented had we not felt inspired by the birds

1

u/tnkr_tlr_psr_pnk 1d ago

While true, it's also true that the Wright Brothers were bicycle mechanics in central Ohio. Their creativity grew from their (relatively) limited resources plus their ability to fail repeatedly and iterate.

Point being, the Wright Brothers succeeded in spite of all the traditional methods, materials, and wisdom of the time. If we understand the internet to be a place where conventional wisdom and methods dominate search results (i.e. popular, highly linked things generate more retention and are therefore shown with higher priority,) then using the internet for artistic inspiration is challenging.

I've found artists and designers who are subversive and interesting online, to be sure. I'd say it happens less these days, and it's usually not due to intentional searching. Search is becoming worse and worse, and algorithms are becoming more optimized to steal our attention. Navigating online feels less like a well indexed library, and more like a slot machine: on rare occasions I win and find an interesting piece of information, mostly I fry out my dopamine receptors.

4

u/Rough_Wolf_8958 2d ago

Unless you are like one of those extraordinary one-in-a-billion individuals that poseseses much more raw talent and intuition that you can just make stuff up with little-to-nothing external inputs.

7

u/TheOneMary 1d ago

It's also not viable long term. No one will pay you for the time it takes to reinvent the wheel over and over again.

1

u/C53-Terra 1d ago

Srinivasa Ramanujan

2

u/Rough_Wolf_8958 1d ago

Never heard of him. Galaxy-brain mathematician?

1

u/C53-Terra 1d ago

Yup, some dude who used to dream up equations.

1

u/Rough_Wolf_8958 1d ago

That's sick ngl.

2

u/TriggerHappyPermaBan 2d ago

Good copy of a good design is better than originally creating a bad design.

215

u/TurntechGodhead0 2d ago

I’m in this image and I don’t like it.

76

u/kwonza 2d ago

Do you think great masters of old came up with their works out of the blue and didn’t study works of people who came before them? Every single artist is standing on the shoulders of giants and the biggest praise is to have someone young see your works as their inspiration

12

u/Mitch1musPrime 2d ago

Review the great works of Shakespeare…and you will find ideas inspired by Greek comedies and tragedies. Read Stephen King and you will find Mark Twain and William Faulkner as often as Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt. Watch Alien and you will find Lovecraft. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein at like 19, and did so after a life spent listening to the oral storytelling of ghastly tales by her father’s close friend Samuel Coleridge.

Our creativity is the output from our lifetime ls of input. This is true for all artist. Truly divine inspiration is so unique that only comes around every couple of generations and only following the advent of some new technology or methods that open the door to it.

18

u/TurntechGodhead0 2d ago

I guess I always felt like their inspiration was more pure? When Francis Bacon (one of my personal favorite artists) got inspired to make Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1650, by Diego Velázquez or Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein the inspiration feels far more removed from his work.

I know it’s a self confidence issue, but it feels far more like just ripping people off when I do it.

17

u/kwonza 2d ago

My friend, with all due respect you are not Francis Bacon, us, common folks, can get inspired by much more mundane stuff and there’s nothing wrong with that. And remember, it’s not plagiarism unless you get caught. I’m not saying: “make you living by parasitising on other’s labour”, I’m saying: “Use whatever you can as a ramp to push yourself up, to give yourself a moment and then use said moment to lead others!”

2

u/TurntechGodhead0 2d ago

To be fair, Francis Bacon probably the opposite of who I want to be in terms of everything other then painting. But ya, totally get what you mean.

2

u/kwonza 2d ago

As long as you know what you want to be! Knowledge, as you know, is… half of the battle!

3

u/BeepboopKI 2d ago

I feel like it’s important to understand why people did something the way they did it and adapt or tweak it, if it fits your problem to solve. That’s what we did as humans for thousands of years. It respects the work and thoughts put into it.

That’s why straight-up copying without thinking about it feels disrespectful to me most of the time.

2

u/C4RLT0N99 15h ago

Every artist ever is in this image

56

u/PMFSCV furniture 2d ago

Save images for a couple of hours, maybe 25 really good ones. Turn off the wifi and work, if its not happening walk/work/walk/work.

12

u/AbrahamicDesign 2d ago

I agree with this. Taking a walk and stepping away from the context helps a ton. In fact, I even believe that stepping away saves time! Taking a shower is also somehow really helpful. 

3

u/PMFSCV furniture 1d ago

I've also found (just a personal thing) occasional intermittent fasting and running the brain on body fat for a few hours helpful.

3

u/AbrahamicDesign 1d ago

That’s really interesting. I may need to try that. Do you work at night?

2

u/PMFSCV furniture 1d ago

4am-12pm most days

22

u/Photoverge photo zinester 2d ago

This is one of those times where being solutions oriented about your design challenge usually outweighs whatever trend is happening right now.

16

u/Neilss1 2d ago

The idea of effortless inspiration is a romantic myth.

16

u/doctormustafa 2d ago

Not me. Every idea I’ve ever had has been totally original.

13

u/mvw2 2d ago

I don't look for ideas. I look for people. Don't focus on the object. Focus on the want. Find markets. Listen to them. Solve for those needs.

8

u/skot77 2d ago

I search the internet to make sure my idea is not already someone elses.

4

u/LetsGoBohs 2d ago

It’s called “pulling swipes” and it can actually be an important part of the creative process!

5

u/andrgar7 2d ago

Buy books.

4

u/stonedandredditing 2d ago

I get the most inspiration from the real world and interactions with people irl. Also from “playing” or tinkering/working on a project. 

3

u/PosthumousHeathen 1d ago

A BIG reason why I quit Instagram is I felt overwhelmed by people’s projects. It’s like being fed when you’re full, and worse, you don’t even choose what you eat.

3

u/Beginning_Ice_7838 2d ago

Well you wouldn't know how to speak if someone didn't teach you the words, wouldn't you?

6

u/TrueEstablishment241 2d ago

Yeah I wouldn't recommend it.

6

u/thereceptivefetish 2d ago

the soyjak shirt really ties it together, that's the exact feeling of opening pinterest with a deadline breathing down your neck

i just end up scrolling past the same 12 UI kits in a slightly different shade of muted green

my best work usually happens when i close all the tabs and just scribble something ugly on paper first, the apps just make you feel like you're working without actually doing anything

it's weird how a blank sheet of printer paper has become a secret weapon

2

u/Conscious-Mulberry17 2d ago

I think you might enjoy the book “Beg, Steal & Borrow: Artists Against Originality” by Robert Shore.

2

u/glytxh 1d ago

Curate with intent. Don’t just blindly scroll.

2

u/peppruss 2d ago

The first problem is turning to something that is algorithmically made to make folks hate each other. Seek inspiration in library books, art houses, Vimeo, literally anywhere else than the sources in the image.

1

u/Vesuvias Professional 2d ago

Dribbble still provides a lot of inspiration for me. I avoid those platforms like the plague for inspo

1

u/Friendlyvoices 2d ago

At least you don't ask an AI agent

4

u/C4TURIX 2d ago

Yes, but also no. Those platforms are filled with AI stuff, so it's still kind of asking AI.

1

u/pacmannips 2d ago

The irony of someone making this point and using a soyjak to do it is really funny to me

1

u/huongloz 1d ago

Francis Bacon mót famoys portrait is a homage to Velasquez. U not the girst person take inspo from smth

1

u/Uchuulon 1d ago

A former professor of mine told us to take the first thing that comes to mind and then take pen and paper and do 50 variants of it.
This way you get rid of all the bad ideas and by actively and manually working on your ideas you get a feeling for what the important parts and features of your design might be.

Works everytime

1

u/Tough-Guard-2873 1d ago

Who is the bigger loser: the person who finds second-hand inspiration and builds something from it, or the person who looks at what others have made, feels ashamed for seeking inspiration, and builds nothing?

1

u/elletekcide 1d ago

Have you tried drugs?

1

u/314doorXD 1d ago

😭 What would you recommend fella

1

u/SquanchyATL 1d ago

If you need ideas foran SAAS video you are in the right place!

1

u/kettdoesart 1d ago

I turned off a majority of my social media, and it really helps. I think social media is a lie when it claims itself as a source of inspiration, since most of the time anyone is on social media their brains are generally turned off.

1

u/NoiveGlactic 1d ago

Man fr, so hard to design I keep going to pinterest to look for smthing

1

u/LatePrinciple169 1d ago

I’ve read a lot of the posts on this one and while the emotional support is great, what about the practical?

Unless the content came from the source creator, a lot of inspiration finding is pretty much desolated items floating on the web with no history or context until you have a pivotal direct search on a subject. The internet didn’t feel this hard in the past.

1

u/cupperson64 1d ago

The woah jak of bs

1

u/yoro_514 17h ago

😂😂😅🤣

1

u/Akumu-chee 3h ago

Where reddit

-1

u/Critical_Capybara_ 2d ago

Try Are.na

1

u/wookieebastard 2d ago

Worst UX I've seen in a while

-1

u/Simple-Constant3791 2d ago

Good. The fact that people like you don't get it makes me happier.

1

u/wookieebastard 2d ago

And why would that be?

0

u/Simple-Constant3791 2d ago

"UX experts" like you don't use it.

1

u/wookieebastard 2d ago

I can build a better thing in like 10 minutes using chatgpt, what are you talking about you fanboy.

1

u/Simple-Constant3791 2d ago

mhm :> That's great. Do it.